PHILADELPHIA -- When Kobe Bryant walked into the locker room after the Lakers' 114-102 win over the 76ers on Wednesday night and saw NBA Hall of Famer and Philadelphia legend Earl Monroe, he stopped and hugged him.

Bryant wanted to pay homage to Monroe, who wanted to do the same for Bryant.

It was a mutual admiration society.

"You done taken the game to another level,'' Monroe said.

"I refer to him as the human video game because the numbers that he put up were just astronomical,'' Bryant said.

Monroe was a teammate of Lakers Coach Phil Jackson with the New York Knicks. Bryant, who played at Lower Merion High, about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, knew all about Monroe growing up.

"This is the only guy I want to take a picture with in life,'' Monroe said.

and so many other basketball legends say kobe is the greatest player in the game yet we are supposed to believe john hollinger and his self created biased stat in which hes altered admittadly several times to put down kobe has better basketball eyes than these legends